The Collection of Van Cliburn

[Applause] [Music] and I love the Time magazine cover tells oh it's a thrill to be there and to experience Russia that I had heard about long to see it's just such a thrilling time to see all of these people who love music so devotedly I do not have fingers I have ten voices and they must all sing I don't know how many pianos do you have in this oh we still have five in the house and we have a wonderful one coming up for all yes yes and I did that on purpose because I loved my mother so devotedly I love my father so devotedly I believe with all my heart that God blessed me so deeply with my parents because I could not have been anything had it not been for them and that had given me so much strength over my life and I wanted to honor her because she I hurt her so much playing on that piano and I worked hard on it I mean I learned so many works on that piano and I said to why not honor her how long will be on earth we don't know but honor her you've amassed a fabulous collection of Russian pieces what would you say is one of your favorite pieces this is a wonderful fabric a piece and the first week ahead come back I played the first concert at Carnegie Hall on the 19th of May 58 and that week I was with I told you Princess Volkonsky Rock my eNOS daughter and then the next day we had the planning of the and then the next day I said to my mother and father who were with me and I said Oh mother I'm going to go to Olivier Russi because I want to see what they have and I went in and I bought two things that day I bought these cufflinks which are Faberge and I've had them on ever since and I bought that lovely beautiful bow and those have been with me for 54 years so is there a particular piece that you think of that brings back a great memory yes I I remember vividly this pair of mirrors I saw on the same day I saw this pair of cabinets my mother were and I were together at the shop of my great friend Aleister stare my mother loved the mirrors I loved this the bookcases and so we were there and we were counting our meager resources and she knew that I loved them both and they were the same price and my mother looked at me and she said all right I'll give you those two bookcases I said okay mother I'll give you the two minutes so van can you tell me about acquiring this particular piece yes that was in 1987 and my mother loved that so much my mother loved beautiful chairs and so did her sister and it just so happened that there were certain things that were just wonderful you know in isolated events my mother had been given the Steinway Achievement Award it was the five hundred thousandth piano and she made a speech and she said I remember it so well she said musical inspiration is the gift of God aim high and consider yourself capable of great things what part does music play in your life nowadays Oh completely forever you know music something that is so deeply entrenched in the soul so how do you think your interests your passion and your perfection of the music has translated into the collection and the pieces that you've collected well it's just been tireless for me because I can remember going back o to the mid 50s and my thirst for beauty because music great music and great art helped us to reach a higher consciousness and see things that are invisible yet visible and it helps us in our road through life because it teaches us that the offshoot of body mind and spirit is really truth goodness and beauty which we all must strive for that gives us strength I'll never forget in 1987 I found that Paul's door keys the inscription on the work was because it was being presented to somebody with the date was October the 14th and my mother's birthday is the 14th of October and so I gave that to her it was such a beautiful work I loved that so much and so when she passed away in 1994 and I took it and it was at the church service and it was sitting on a tall stand at the end of the beer and I hope that the inspiration that it has given me will be found you know and these the little jewel boxes I gave mother on her 80 no 90th birthday they were the Nicholas the first had them made for his daughter Grand Duchess Marina so van tell me about this silver terrain here this is a beautiful piece it was in 1963 I believe a concert I was play on the 23rd of June and after the rehearsal the day before I was walking back from the concert ho music Carranza and I passed this shop and I saw this and it just captured me had been the possession of a daughter of Nicholas the first and before asking how much was it I was thinking how am I going to get this home and I had great difficulty going to the next concert villa next and then getting home my mother was very wonderful at making fabulous chicken soup and we used that so many many many times mr. Starrett called me one day and he said come on over and he said I want you to see this little tripod table because he said it belonged to Bernard Baruch who was a very famous financier and so he said when Baruch died he left it to his secretary then she decided few a little while later that she was going to part with it and she gave it to mr. stair mr. stair said Oh van I think this is a terribly important table because as you can see each leg is different now he said I have been searching for it but I think it was a specimen table that Chippendale had made to show a customer if you want this leg or this leg or this look and I thought how fascinating and you know it's interesting I believe that things of great lasting beauty know their owners have always been grateful for a fact that there are only two things that can never be destroyed great music and great memories and when you have that yes I may be partying with some things but I still see them forever in my home as they are van you are one of the biggest classical music icons of the 20th and 21st century and it has been such an honor for Christie's to have a movie all thank you and it's such an opportunity for us to help assist in auctioning off these pieces and on behalf of Christie's and of course personally I want to thank you for this opportunity [Music]

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Views: 39,598

Rating: 4.7118645 out of 5

Keywords: Art, Auction, Christie's, Interview, Collection, Furniture, Van Cliburn

Id: a5WqZqMcNrc

Length: 10min 5sec (605 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 12 2012